HuHot Mongolian Grill — Restaurant in Spokane Valley

Usually I won't rate a place if it doesnt deserve 5 stars for my visit. A lower rating is a big deal for a business, and a single person's bad day doesn't warrant a permanent record of dissatisfaction. When a problem is obviously not a once off thing, though it can be warranted.

My experience here was decidedly mixed. It had been many years since I'd been last, but this did not live up to my expectations this time. We came at lunch around 1:15, when google told us they'd be on the downswing for customer capacity. Shortlist at the bottom.

Notable positives:

-One grill attendant and the hostess at the door were both very polite and personable. She had a cloth mask, he had a disposable mask, and both were well fitted and worn correctly.

-Grill attendant handed us out plates directly, including being patient and waiting a little longer when my kid was confused about whether to take it - he was kind and respectful with my child, which felt pretty great. Good work, grill guy :)

The vegetables and meats at the bar were in excellent condition, and there was surprisingly little cross contamination by customers between bins (still there of course, but not significant)

The food areas were being well cared for by their attendant and the edges were cleaned; food was restocked regularly while we were there. Floors were also well cleaned in the area.

-When another customer carelessly tossed the chicken tongs into the fish bowl handle first, I asked the attendant for a replacement, and he promptly fixed the problem with no fuss or suggestion of inconvenience.

-Our waiter was very brief in his interractions with us. He checked in 3 or 4 times while we were there fo see if we needed water or to order something specific, but he stayed only a couple seconds and left us to pur meal in peace.

Concerns I had: Mixed mask use. Regardless of vaccination, the people explicitly working on everybody's food should probably be wearing a mask at a buffet style restaurant. One had no mask, one more his mask incorrectly, and one mask only secured above the nose, basically like a thick "I Dream of Jeanie" veil. This last one has the effect of just channelling all breath straight down into our already cooked food at the table. Not the most appealing thought.

-Presumably they have an established replacement schedule for sauces, but having worked in food before, it made me uncomfortable that low sauce bins were just topped up from a refill bucket in situ. It'd be awfully easy to make it a "forever punch bowl" because a very low sauce never gets finished or dumped.

The biggest problem by a long way was the condition of the raw-food bowls. You use small bowls to build your ingredients, and the grill attendants cook it and transfer to a new clean bowl. The cooked-food bowls were clean and good condition. The raw bowls were absolutely not. Out of a dozen stacks of bowls, there was not a si gle bowl on top that didn't have not just a greasy smear ordiscoloration, but actual small pieces of food stuck to them. Any food going into these is thoroughly cooked afterward, and nothing was so stuck you couldnt pick it off, but even going down a couple bowls in a stack and coming back again later, all bowls were unsatiafactory. This strongly reminded me of the very poor sanitation practices of a certain yellow fish and chowder restaurant in town, especially when combined with a possible infinite-soup scenario, and significantly impacted my perception of the restaurant. The best solution for a customer was to find the least-contaminated looking bowl here and know that it would be cooked, or, more realistically, to not partake.

We have some remaining gift card balance, but I think we'll be spending it at the CdA branch. Being a little, hopefully their standards for bowl cleanliness will be a little higher.

Positive: Fresh food Good service Kind staff Well cooked Clean floors Cross-contamination care in raw food

Negative: Universally soiled raw-food bowls Inconsistent mask procedure Concerning...

Very disappointed by my experience at this establishment. The only good thing was our waitress who was very polite and prompt. The beginning of our experience, we went to the back side of the buffet line and we're rudely told that side was closed. My friend has a broke hand, and was struggling with making her bowl. I was incredibly disheartened that the employees were so busy closing they didn't even think to offer to help her ( I know that's not there job but it would've been great customer service). So I helped with her bowl and mine. I dropped our food off at the grill, clearly separating them and went back to grab her other bowl and the grilled threw all three bowls together. He did apologize and seem sincere but as he cooked for us and four other guests he was slopping food EVERYWHERE and mixed several bowls. At this point I was upset but fine. I asked the possibility of getting a box and was told no which I understand completely. After I asked tho, I found a small blonde hair in my food and had it at that point. I asked to see a manager and when he came he didn't seemed to concerned with my comments or concerns. He offered me a discount and I declined. I didn't want a free meal I just wanted to let them know that I had an awful experience. Upon my servers return she apologized again for no box which I then again said it was fine I wouldn't take it home now anyways due to the hair I had discovered. She mentioned again that she could discount my meal which I declined again. I hope if I return to this establishment the staff will be nicer, the bar cleaner, and the food to be cleaner. I also did not appreciate the interaction I had with the manager because his whole demeanor made it seem like I was just looking for a discount due to not receiving a box (which I was fine not getting). Just so...

HuHot is one of my favorite places to go; I do not like going out to eat at buffets or anything like that because how serious my allergy is. (80 mph down sprague to rush to nearest ER) However, most HuHot employees demonstrate the utmost seriousness, respect and show extreme precautions surrounding individuals who are borne with life threatening allergies.

There was only one individual with whom I would recommend having additional training on how to interact with the public/customers. It was close to closing so I got a to go order this gentleman was cleaning up the food bars and I crossed over the cable separating public from one side of the bar food. The reason I did this is because there was a mushroom contaminating the one side that was open in the onions container; so I went over the barrier so that I could get fresh onion because of my allergy. The kid came up to me and asked me to go to the other side the reason that this site is closed is because I'm cleaning it up. I tried to explain why I went over the barrier and was told that I still needed to move so he could clean and I basically felt like I was being reprimanded for not staying on the other side. I really like eating there; it's my families favorite restaurant.

I've had a good experience every time I've been there; with the staff. I'm a very personal person and don't do crowds and don't do public well because of my disability and anxiety.

I don't honestly know if I will go back because I don't like being put on the spot like that which really sucks cuz it just basically is one more restaurant I have to add to my list I...